JETS 31 – BEARS 10
The Jets are in good hands with Mike White.
Days after Jets head coach Robert Saleh made the choice to bench Zach Wilson in favor of Mike White, White honored his coaches confidence in him by delivering a stellar effort in a pouring rain storm against the Chicago Bears. White finished the day 22-of-28 (78.6 percent) for 315 yards and three touchdowns.
He was calm, cool, and collected in the pocket. He pushed the ball down the field, and gave the Jets the kind of jolt they had been missing for the quarterback position.
If there were any questions about who the Jets starting quarterback should be, it’s pretty obvious now: stick with White.
What was most impressive about White’s performance was his ability to perform at that level in terrible weather conditions. It rained constantly, the ball was clearly slippery as was evident by the botched field goal attempt the Jets had in the first half. Yet, he stood in the pocket, avoided the rush and delivered dime after dime after dime.
“He didn’t need to be anybody but Mike White,” coach Robert Saleh said. “He didn’t need to turn it into ‘The Greatest Show on Turf. … He made the easy look easy, and I thought he did a really good job with that.”
One knew this would be a different game when White guided the Jets on an impressive opening touchdown drive with White completing five of six passes, including an eight-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Garret Wilson to make it 7-0.
Later in the half, with the Jets down 10-7, White delivered easily his best throw of the day when he riffled a pass down the middle of the field that sailed through the hands of a Bears linebacker and into the hands of Wilson, who stutter-stepped and sprinted down the right side for a 54-yard touchdown to put the Jets up for good at 14-10.
Finally, with the Jets facing a critical third and four at the Bears’ 22-yard line, White heaved a pass to a Elijah Moore in double coverage for the score to put the Jets up 24-10.
That’s right the same Elijah Moore who just weeks ago was tired of not getting targets. He got three on Sunday from Mike White.
What a difference a quarterback makes.
Defensively, the Jets bent, but didn’t break against the Bears and back-up quarterback Trevor Simeon. The Jets D did get blown off the ball a bit in the first half, but the recovered nicely in the second half, pitching a shutout. C.J. Mosley put the icing on the cake with a pick in the red zone on the Bears’ final possession of the game.
The Jets (7-4) head to Minnesota on Sunday.
